1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatuses and methods for ornamental piercing of body parts. Particularly, the present invention relates to apparatuses and methods for holding a nut to close a stud post for body piercing performed with a hand-operated body piercing instrument.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, body piercing has become an increasingly common practice in the U.S. and throughout the world. Although the piercing of body parts is ancient, the practice is rapidly becoming a routine procedure, often performed by laypersons without medical experience or training. It is also important to understand that mainstream body piercing has evolved to include piercing of body parts other than just the ear. For example, piercing of flesh near the naval or belly button, eyebrow, lip, etc., are presently much more common than previously. Presently, a number of manually operated devices are available that allow for the safe, hygienic, user-friendly piercing of body parts. Examples of such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,343 by Reil, issued Mar. 5, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,170 by Reil, issued Aug. 11, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,774 by Reil, issued Feb. 9, 1999, U.S. Pat. No. 6,599,306 by Reil, issued Jul. 29, 2003, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,796,990 by Reil, issued Sep. 28, 2004, all of which are incorporated by reference herein.
In addition to piercing entirely by hand with a needle, there are a variety of body piercing systems available today. These various body piercing systems essentially comprise a stud (also called an earring or a piercing earring) which includes an affixed ornamental piece with a post (also called a stud, pin or a piercing pin) and a nut (sometimes called a clasp) that are mounted in a cartridge. During the piercing process, the body part (e.g., an ear lobe) is placed between the post and the nut and the cartridge is squeezed, either by hand or by operating it in a special body piercing system (or “gun,” instrument or assembly), which causes the post to pierce the body part and engage the nut. One particular body piercing assembly employs separate carriers for both of the post and the nut which are separately engaged into different locations of the body piercing assembly before piercing.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,563, issued Jul. 9, 1985, to Reil, discloses an ear stud emplacement system that embodies a guntype stud setting member wherein sterility in high hygiene conditions are maintained in the piercing of ears and the setting of studs or posts thereinto in secure relationship with the back clasp or nut of the stud or post. The improved system utilizes a stud gun having the components that come in contact with the earlobe and the like, that are disposable. The system allows for emplacement of sterile components and the placement of stud and back in the ear under sterile conditions not requiring touching of, for example, the stud and clasp with human hands or the touching of the replaceable components of the stud gun with human hands thereby decreasing the risk involved, of one getting their ears pierced.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,494, issued May 1, 1990, to Reil, discloses a disposable stud carrier and one-piece earring carrier for holding a clasp for attachment to an earring stud and providing a guide to direct the forward movement of the stud into the clasp. The earring carrier is used in conjunction with a stud gun having a protuberance upon its end of which the earring carrier may be positioned upon and so held.
One difficulty associated with piercing systems employing separate carriers for the nut and post is that each carrier must be separately installed into the piercing system before use. The separate carriers may be small and difficult to handle. The post and the nut must each be securely held in their respective carriers in proper alignment for the piercing. In addition, each carrier must be securely engaged to the piercing system when installed. In the case of the post carrier, occasionally the post may become dislodged from the carrier and fall to the floor. On the other hand, the nut carrier may accidentally become disengaged from the piercing instrument. In any such event, any components that are dropped must be discarded because they are no long hygienic.
Like any product, it is also desirable to produce piercing instruments at reduced costs. Every additional manufacturing step adds additional cost to the end product. For example, current a conventional body piercing instrument that employs separate carriers for the nut and post has a metal flange that is welded to a cylindrical portion that is used to engage the nut carrier. Although a welded flange is cheaper than machining the entire part from larger stock, eliminating the need for a welded flange would present a cheaper alternative. However, such a solution would need to first meet the requirements of providing secure engagement and alignment of the nut carrier to the body piercing instrument.
Inevitably, there are differences among the different manufactured units of any product. Thus, it is desirable that the design of a product accommodates the full range of manufacturing tolerances between mating parts that will result across the produced units. Meeting this objective results in greater customer satisfaction and fewer returned defective components. Prior art post carriers for body piercing instruments which are designed to hold the ornament of a post through a press fit (or interference fit) between the largest outer dimension of the ornament and the inner diameter of a cylindrical wall may yield inconsistent holding force applied to the post. The resulting holding force from a such a press fit engagement can vary widely with only very small changes in the difference between the ornament size and the cylindrical recess diameter. While improving manufacturing tolerances between the parts may address the issue, this would also involve additional costs. (Molded plastic components are inexpensive but difficult to maintain to tight tolerances, for example. Machined parts would be more precise but much more costly.) Thus, ordinary manufacturing tolerances between the ornament and a molded plastic post carrier can easily yield either too flimsy or too rigid an engagement between the ornament and the post carrier. In the former case, the post might fall out of the carrier during handling before piercing and in the latter case, the post may be difficult to remove from the carrier after piercing resulting in discomfort to the recipient.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for apparatuses and systems that provide for simple, accurate, repeatable and safe body piercing. There is a need for methods and apparatuses for piercing systems to allow efficient and hygienic loading of separate carriers for the nut and post. There is particularly a need for such methods and apparatuses that provide separate carriers for the nut and post that are more easily manipulated and that operate with a reduced likelihood that sterile components may be dropped during loading. Further, there is also a need for such methods and apparatuses to reduce manufacturing costs, such as eliminating a welded nut carrier flange. There is a need for designs that yield consistent performance without requiring precision manufacturing tolerances. There is also a need for such methods and apparatuses to employ standard components which can be employed with different piercing techniques. As discussed hereafter, the present invention meets these and other needs.